Generally, in telecommunications and computing, a machine-readable medium refers to a medium capable of storing data in a format readable by a device. An example of a machine-readable medium is a barcode, which is an optical machine-readable representation of data relating to the object to which it is attached. Barcodes can be processed in a barcode system. A barcode system is a network of hardware and supporting software, including mobile computers, printers, handheld scanners, and infrastructure. Barcode systems automate data collection where hand recording is not timely or cost effective. Barcode systems may be implemented within an inventory management system.
Inventory management systems perform inventory management which includes specifying quantities of stocked goods. It is required at different locations within a facility or within many locations of a supply network. The scope of inventory management includes replenishment lead time, carrying costs of inventory, asset management, inventory forecasting, inventory valuation, inventory visibility, future inventory price forecasting, physical inventory, available physical space for inventory, quality management, replenishment, returns and defective goods, and demand forecasting.
Retailers often embed product information (e.g., weight, price, expiration date, and department) inside a barcode to support special business processes. Such information may be used to determine additional information about the product bearing the barcode. For example, the weight of an item can be recorded on a sales transaction by dividing its barcode price by a corresponding unit price. As such, special algorithms may be created to process these barcodes so the application that scans the barcode can extract the item number from the barcode and kick off a special process if needed.